The present invention relates to a vibration triggered game device, and more particularly to such a device which is sensitive to vibrations generated by a manually applied vibratory stimulus during play of the game, and which triggers a signal when those vibrations exceed a preset threshold value to designate the achieving of an event in the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,636,737 to Levay and U.S. Pat. No. 3,158,870 to Pearson, Jr. disclose game devices testing manual coordination of the player in manipulating player elements to avoid closing a switch energizing a circuit that signals the end of a play.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,017 to Maloy shows a game device in which at a given stage a player must close a switch energizing a vibrator to vibrate a platform containing play elements, some of which may be physically retained on the platform and others merely loosely deposited thereon, depending on the stage of play, whereupon any loosely deposited play elements may topple, thereby influencing the score of the game.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,977,116 to Conwill discloses a hand held cylindrical game device having a series of aligned openings at different vertical levels therein, through which a ball fed at the top will pass if the manual coordination of the player is sufficient to balance the device precisely upright, as otherwise the ball will be side tracked at a given level.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,376 to Berlin shows a like hand held vertical game device having a series of lamps successively energized and deenergized in continuous time delayed sequence by a trigger circuit, normally closed by a gravity actuated, e.g. mercury, switch if the manual coordination of the player is sufficient to balance the device precisely upright, as otherwise the switch will open and extinguish the lamps.
It would be desirable to provide a game device testing the manual skill and dexterity of the player in relation to a preset, especially adjustable, threshold standard, regarding a wide variety of different type games, and which may be used in any spatial orientation and without the need for electrical switches to indicate the achievement of an event in the game.